A Blown Kiss on the Slicing Wind
by Lemonfresh
Summary: An initial meeting accompanied by a surprise kiss leaves Hinata reeling, but what does Temari really have in store for the Hyuga? HinataTemari [OneShot]


**A Blown Kiss on the Slicing Wind**

A Naruto Fanfiction by Lemonfresh

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters, they're all Masashi Kishimoto's and the like, nor do I make any claim of such, so please don't sue. In addition, the following fanfic contains strong indications of a shoujo-ai/yuri/femmeslash/girlxgirl love type relationship, and though there are no graphic themes in this, those not comfortable with such relationships should likely not read this fiction.

Author's Notes: Well hell, I've been out of this for far too long. Anyways, this is just a fic that ended up percolating in my brain after reading the larger part of the Naruto shoujo-ai fiction available on FanFictionNet, and though a surprisingly large amount of it was quite good, I ended up finding the HinataxTemari fics somewhat lacking. Several were very well written, but most of them gave a far too weak and gentle portrayal of Temari, and so I ended up writing this to see if I couldn't do one better in that element. Oh, and for any Final Dance readers seeing this, it's very much looking like I've got my inspiration back, so hopefully you'll be something on your end shortly. Anyways, to one and all, hope you enjoy reading.

Hinata struck out at the section of log standing up in the middle of the clearing again, her open-palmed fist sending shards of bark flying. She was alone during this particular training session, mainly because it had come as a spur of the moment sort of thing, precipitated by Naruto's return to the village after two and a half years of absence. Hinata had seen him, had only been a precious few meters away and yet had found herself unable to do anything more than hide around a corner, nervous sweat matting her dark hair to her forehead. She was angry with herself for that, for being too cowardly to even risk that Naruto might see _her_ and decide to strike up a conversation himself, and so she had come to the training grounds to work off those feelings and punish herself just a little bit for that failing.

What Hinata had not expected to have happen as she continued to practice her Gentle Fist technique, though, was to have a visitor in the clearing. It was a woman, taller than her and with blonde hair done up in an elaborate style, pulled back into four separate ties that gave her an almost . . . attractively rough appearance. She had sharp, piercing teal eyes that leaned more to the green side of the spectrum and skin that looked fairly well adapted to the dryness and wind of the desert, as the Sand Village symbol on her forehead protector indicated she hailed from, but maintained a fairly creamy, untanned tone. Wrapped about her form was what appeared to be a black yukata, albeit arranged to lay open down to the swell of her breasts and with much shorter sleeves that would not interfere with fighting, closed at the waist by a lighter obi and matched with a pair of partial gloves. What ultimately jogged Hinata's memory about the identity of the woman, though, was the impressively large, metal bound fan worn across her back.

Temari was her name, she'd been one of the Genin from the Sand Village that had come to the Leaf for the Chuunin Exams over two and half years before. She had defeated TenTen in a fairly brutal fashion during the preliminaries and went on to defeat Shikamaru as well, though he had actually forfeited at his moment of triumph under the pretense that he'd used too much chakra to carry through to the win. Hinata would have tried to greet the woman following her recognition of the Sand Ninja's identity, were it not for the fact that she was being examined intently by her. A gaze sharp enough to cut swept over Hinata's form, making her feel almost naked in the face of its intense scrutiny, before a triumphant smirk came to Temari's face.

"Wha-what do you . . . want?" Hinata called out in her soft voice, finding herself decidedly ill at ease before the smile on Temari's lips, as well as the look in her eye.

But the blonde ninja gave no response, save stepping further into the clearing and toward Hinata herself. The dark-blue haired Leaf ninja took the same step back, trying to maintain the distance between herself and Temari as she pulled her arms tight around herself.

"Please . . . t-tell me what you want." Hinata failed miserably in trying instill her next vocalization with a demand, though Temari seemed as though she would have remained silent even in the face of such, only continuing to advance.

And, when the Hyuga found herself with nowhere else to go for having backed up into the log she'd been training on, the Sand ninja came in for the kill. The distance between them vanished until Temari was so close that Hinata could feel the woman's warm breath washing over her skin.

"P-please . . . wha-. . ." Hinata was not allowed to finish another query, because even as she began to speak Temari leaned forward to close the last of the distance between them to capture Hinata's lips in a kiss.

The white-eyed ninja's words cut off as she felt the lip lock and those same eyes went almost impossibly wide with shock, before slowly slipping closed as the warmth of the kiss spread throughout her whole body. It was so deep that what little was left of Hinata's cognitive functions was certain Temari must have been sucking the life from her and it tasted of exotic spice that filled Hinata's mind with a heady euphoria and left her weak in the knees. When finally the Sand ninja pulled away, her partner in the Leaf ninja fell immediately to her knees, having been held up only by Temari's hands that had come to cup the girl's cheeks at some point during the kiss, and the desire of Hinata's body to maintain the contact. She stared up at the woman with empty, uncomprehending eyes while Temari only licked her lips in a self-satisfied sort of way. Then just as mysteriously as she had arrived, the blonde, fan-wielding Sand ninja turned about and walked out of the clearing. But, just before going out of sight, Temari did finally meet Hinata's blank gaze, if only for a moment.

Even in her state of near mental-shutdown at that point, having those hard, powerful eyes meet hers made Hinata smolder inside.

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That had been her very first kiss. Hinata hadn't wanted to believe it, but it was true; there had been no other before Temari. She had intended to give it to Naruto, had saved it through all the days before for that purpose.

"Hinata, you need to focus!" Kurenai called urgently to the dark-blue haired girl as one of her thrown kunai again went far wide of the target.

"Yes, sensei." She responded without conviction, resigned that focus was beyond the abilities of her troubled mind.

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She had intended to give it to Naruto, shyly, perhaps one sunset down by the river when the moment was perfect, or maybe at the Ichiraku ramen stand on a whim. What could she do now that it was gone, what would Naruto say if he knew the lips she kissed him with were the same lips that . . . that . . .

"Hurry up girl, you're holding up the line!" The grocery cashier nearly yelled at Hinata, forcing her to move from the spot just a step before the register, where she'd been rooted with a fierce blush on her cheeks.

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What would he do if he knew about that? Would he be . . . angry, that she was some kind of slut that just let complete strangers do that to her? No, Naruto wasn't like that. Would he be crushed that he couldn't be her first kiss, unable to continue on, knowing that? No, a first kiss was a first kiss; important, yes, but nothing someone like Naruto would end a relationship over. Maybe he would just smile at her, before telling her it was all right and pinning her against a log behind her, leaning in to kiss her with lips so soft and yet firm at once, spiced with . . .

"No!" Hanabi stared at Hinata for a long moment before setting down the kettle she'd been holding, looking cross as she spoke,

"you don't need to scream, it's just tea."

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Was it strange that her lips still tingled form that contact hours before? Was it odd that the euphoria she'd experienced after the event had lasted nearly an hour, right up until she'd taken a practice punch from Kiba right in the stomach, due to her inattentiveness? Did it make her weird that every time she thought about that kiss . . . that it made her insides twist into knots and burn with need? Was it wrong? It should have taken a few minutes for Hinata to find her way to the ramen stand and it would have normally, had she not been so terribly occupied with the thoughts flitting about her head.

And why . . . why would anyone do such a thing? Why would anyone at all just come along out of the blue and kiss her? Why would someone like Temari do that, someone so obviously powerful and strong, someone beautiful enough to likely have anyone she wanted? Why?

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Hinata had entered, seated herself at the bar and ordered up her bowl of ramen, all while still deeply in thought, for the most part playing with it rather than eating it. For that reason, she failed to notice when a tall blonde also entered the stand, coming to order from the stool right beside the dark-blue haired girl's seat. Eventually, though, even Hinata noticed those four, tied shocks of rich, blonde hair and gasped with the realization. Temari seemed not to notice the gasp itself; or pretended not to, at least; but did turn to regard Hinata at that point with those sharp, calculating eyes. Silence hung heavily between the two women, uninterrupted by the minor din coming from the other side of the stand's bar, and felt very much as though it was choking the life form Hinata with her unasked question. Finally, smiling, Temari ripped it away.

"So, Hinata, right? Aren't you going to ask me why I did it?" The Leaf ninja could not prevent another gasp of shock from escaping her, wondering silently if she really was so transparent.

"Wh-why y-you d-did what?" Hinata blushed fiercely at the nervous stutter she'd suddenly developed and it only grew worse as Temari chuckled in amusement and grinned.

"Why I kissed you, of course. That is what you've been thinking so hard about all day, isn't it?" The Sand ninja's powerful gaze lay heavily on Hinata, causing her flush to grow a shade even darker as her head fell and her eyes lay on the floor between them.

"I . . . I haven't." The Hyuga could not see Temari's expression then, but somehow she knew it was one of amusement and admonishment.

"You're not a very good liar, you know? Not a good trait for a shinobi to have, especially a kunoichi." Hinata gave no response, unable to force anything past her embarrassment at having been read so perfectly.

It only got worse as Temari leaned in close to her, mouth bare millimeters from Hinata's ear.

"I know you wanna know, but here's not the place. How about we meet in our little secret spot, huh?" That said, the blonde ninja leaned back away, winked playfully and stood, leaving enough money to pay for both her own uneaten meal and Hinata's as well as she exited.

And Hinata, as horrible and stupid of a thing that she knew it was to do, followed Temari out into the night. She tried to convince herself that she was doing it so she could thank Temari for paying for her meal, but she knew it was about that feeling, that smoldering feeling just beneath the surface that she felt when she looked at the blonde Sand ninja.

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Eventually they reached their destination, the training clearing in which they'd met only that morning. But, as it often seemed to do between them, silence reigned for quite some time, Temari simply watching Hinata with those sharp eyes across the distance between them, like some kind of raptor with prey, and the Hyuga remained nervously silent. Finally, just as Hinata was about to try and speak, Temari's fan came off of her back and clanked heavily on the ground. The Leaf ninja stared, uncomprehending, for several long moments before taking a few frightened steps back. Her Sand counterpart only smirked, allowing Hinata to put a little more space between them before speaking.

"The only way you're getting out of here alive is if you fight and beat me; I'm a long-range combatant, so even if you ran I'd just cut you down." Hinata shook her head, not wanting to believe what was being said and desperately closed her eyes in hopes that it all be right when she opened them again.

But when the sound of the fan being unfolded reached her ears, the dark-blue haired girl instinctively ducked behind a tree, just as slicing wind tore through the ground where she'd been standing. Then she could hear and feel the rush of wind as blades of air ripped into a scarred the tree she was using for cover. Hinata was frightened beyond belief, unable to understand why Temari would be seeking her life, as well as not knowing how to even begin to fight back against the woman. When the tree suddenly stopped vibrating from the impacts, though, the bewildered ninja couldn't help but peek out and look, just in time to see Temari open her fan further, revealing the second moon beyond her first. In that moment, Hinata remembered TenTen's fight with the blonde, just as the ninja in question drew back for another swing of her fan. Knowing what to expect, Hinata stepped away in a whirl of wind and leaves just as a much more powerful blade of wind ripped right through the tree she'd been hiding behind.

Temari smirked, having caught the tell-tale swirl just before her attack.

"The Body Flicker jutsu, very nice." She called out loud, her eyes carefully scanning the forest around her. "But you must know that no matter where you're hiding, the moment you move I'll know exactly where you are." Unsurprisingly, Temari received no response from Hinata, instead having to content herself with carefully watching and waiting in the stillness of the night.

The instant the boughs of one tree shook, it was already being cut to pieces by a whirling gash of wind, as was the next as Hinata hopped from tree to tree in an erratic pattern that brought her a little closer to Temari's position with each leap. After four, though, Temari easily predicted the Leaf ninja's next target and launched forth a slice of air that ripped into her mid-jump. Or rather, ripped into her empty jacket mid-flight, as Hinata was already on the ground and rushing toward Temari, the veins and arteries around her eyes bulged with the activation of her Byakugan. Reacting with the smooth, measured control of a veteran, Temari threw her fan open to reveal its third moon and struck out, sending a blast of wind and three, deadly whirlwinds of razor ear tearing across the ground toward Hinata's charging form.

But the Hyuga girl did not hesitate, only raising a single, open-palmed fist as she charged straight into the attack, striking for the center of one of the whirlwinds with that fist, dissipating it. Temari's eyes went wide at that, realizing the Leaf ninja had managed to use her Gentle Fist to sever the lines of chakra that controlled and empowered her wind, an impressive feat indeed. The Sand ninja ran out of time to consider the action, though, and was forced to throw her fan up to block a blow from the then point-blank Hinata as she came in with a powerful palm thrust. The Hyuga followed through with the elbow of that same arm following the block, her other hanging useless at her side and bleeding from the wounds it had received before she could break the whirlwind, and that blow struck true. Temari reeled back from the strike, but expertly twirled her fan to intercept two more before bringing it down like a club. Hinata whirled around the blow, dodging just past it to bring herself in for an attack on Temari's unguarded side, hitting her hard. And it really hurt, but Temari forced herself to ignore it through sheer willpower and instead swept the girl's feet out from under her with a swing of the massive fan.

Even before the dark-blue haired girl's back hit the dirt, the Sand ninja was already straddling her and overall restraining her quite effectively, keeping Hinata pinned firmly to the ground.

"I gotta say, I'm surprised." Temari said with a smile that mostly hid the pain she still felt from that Gentle Fist strike to her side. "You did good, girl, a lot better than I was expecting. Being honest, I'm actually impressed." Hinata struggled beneath the older, blonde ninja, but found that the woman was a fair bit stronger than she looked.

"W-what are you . . . talking about?" Hinata demanded, trying to catch her breath. "Wha-what is this?"

"That was a test, Hinata." Temari responded with a smile. "When I saw you the other day, I remembered a battle I saw two and a half years ago that had intrigued me, between a poor little girl and a genius fighter. Even though the genius won, the battle went on and on because the little girl who everyone thought would be blown over by a stiff breeze refused to give up and fought with a strength far beyond what her appearance suggested she possessed. I saw a little girl fight with a strength born of tragedy and struggle, both against the world and against herself. And after seeing you the other day, I wanted to see that strength for myself, first-hand." Hinata stared up at Temari blankly, whispering,

"a test . . . that was all just a game . . ." Temari continued without paying heed to the girl's words, though.

"You, Hinata, are pathetic. You constantly push yourself in training to become stronger, but are too dense to realize that the area you really need to improve is in your strength of character. Because you're too shy and self-defeating you're always letting yourself and your team down, and this will never change so long as you refuse to acknowledge it and work to change it. It's this same streak of self-imposed worthlessness that keeps Naruto from realizing you possess any feelings for him, and it'll probably keep you from ever having a decent relationship or flat out being anything but the worthless little girl you see yourself as." Her tone was harsh and unyielding, as sharp as the aptness of her dissection, striking Hinata deeply and leaving her speechless for a long moment.

But a voice welled up inside of her and forced a response from her, features twisting with indignant anger.

"I know Naruto values my friendship, and it's thanks to that friendship that I have the confidence to pull myself back up no matter how often I fail, but it's thanks to my own strength that I'm able to stand time and time again! Next time you want to judge me, you should start by not attacking me!" Temari, though, did not seem surprised by Hinata's retort, even despite the unusual vehemence behind it, at first only getting up and freeing Hinata from her restraint in response.

After allowing the girl back to her feet, she smiled indulgently before speaking lightly, "you should know that I was not judging you there, nor did I have any desire to judge in doing all of this, I just simply wanted to see if you were worth the effort, duckling." And before Hinata could attempt another response, Temari simply turned on a heel and began walking off, only throwing a, "I'll be seeing you around, Hinata," before vanishing into the forest.

And despite a desire to be angry over all that had happened, Hinata couldn't help but like the sound of that.


End file.
